Sony Partners With IBM to Use Blockchain in Student Data Management

Sony and IBM have partnered up to develop a new educational platform that employs Blockchain technology in securing and sharing student records.

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Japanese electronics firm Sony has partnered with technology giant IBM to develop a new educational platform that employs Blockchain technology in securing and sharing student records.

In their announcement in early August 2017, the partners claimed that the platform will enable educators to exchange information on student progress and achievements.

The platform is powered by IBM’s new product called IBM Blockchain, which was officially launched at the company’s Interconnect conference in Las Vegas, Nevada in March.

The product utilizes the Hyperledger open-source Fabric codebase, a project that was supported by the Linux Foundation.

Sony’s plans for the platform

According to Sony, it plans to launch the new product through its subsidiary Sony Global Education sometime in 2018. Sony also claimed that the new service will be offered to both primary and higher educational institutions.

For its future plans, Sony said that they will continue developing additional educational services that will use the Blockchain platform as the data-sharing layer beneath them.

In his statement about Blockchain, Masaaki Isozu, Sony Global Education President, said that the technology can disrupt various industries and the education sector is not an exemption.

Isozu noted:

"Blockchain technology has the potential to impact systems in a wide variety of industries, and the educational sphere is no exception when educational data is securely stored on the Blockchain and shared among permissioned users."

Moreover, Sony hinted that it could develop applications for the technology in the fields of supply chain and logistics:

"Sony Group is also considering innovative ways to make use of Blockchain technology. It will continue evaluating this system going forward as it works towards the creation of appealing products and services in a host of different fields."

Such a move could be just the start of the collaboration between two tech giants cementing the role Blockchain has in public services and mass adoption of the same technology that powers Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.